Padres Editorial: Why Jedd Gyorko Should Be In the Lineup Everyday
If you follow me on twitter (@Friar_Faithful), you may realize that I’m a big Jedd Gyorko apologist. I really want him to be an everyday second baseman so that the San Diego Padres can truly see what they have in him. So far, they haven’t gotten a true gauge on what he really can do.
As you all remember, the second baseman is in the second year of a 5 year, $35 million dollar contract. In his rookie year, Gyorko excited fans with a 23 HR, 63 RBI season in 125 games. He also had a 2.5 WAR, which is more than acceptable for a second baseman.
Former GM Josh Byrnes and ownership thought it would be a good idea to extend Jedd after that impressive first campaign, so in the first few weeks of the 2014 season, they gave him that aforementioned extension.
Gyorko did little to prove management right very early on. He was only hitting .162/.213/.270 when the Padres placed him on the DL with plantar fasciitis in early June.
When he was fully healed and after the Padres activated him in late July, he was a completely different hitter. His walk rate was higher, K rate was lower, and he hit to a tune of .260/.347/.398 with a 118 RC+. It was an impressive second half that isn’t totally remembered by a lot of Padres fans, who have always seemed to be really negative about Gyorko.
His grand total from 111 games last year was .210/.280/.333 with 10 HR and 51 RBI. Half of that season was him playing with an injury that affects mechanics and a many parts of the body that hitters need to be successful. Stuart Wallace from Beyond the Box Score wrote a fantastic piece on what plantar fasciitis really does to a hitter.
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Baseball is fun. College sophomore that is aspiring to work someday in the sports industry. Follow me on twitter @Friar_Faithful. Go Pads!